New visa rules will hit Britons hardest

If Fortress America raises the drawbridge and lowers the portcullis, the British, more than any other nation, will find themselves on the outside looking in.

Visitors from Britain have been the most enthusiastic users of America's visa-waiver scheme and beneficiaries of the ease of travel across the Atlantic it guarantees.

Travellers from the old colonial power dominate the tourist market in New York and Florida, the most popular destinations in the US. Even Canadians, the northern neighbours, come second to Britons in number of visits to the Big Apple.

The Queen's English, in its many forms, is arguably New York's third language, after the local dialect and Spanish, at least in terms of the frequency with which it is heard on the streets.

That would change if, as expected, chaos results from the new entry regime, with its confusion over machine-readable passports, biometrics and different visas.

Related Articles

New York's shops are currently crawling with Brits, exploiting the weak dollar and hassle-free travel to descend on the city's New Year sales.

"There is no way that I would be here if I had to sit in a queue and apply for a visa in London first," said Nancy Hearst as she braved freezing temperatures to stock up on clothes in SoHo yesterday.

Aware of the damage the end of visa-free travel will do to the economy, the US tourist business has intensified its efforts to have the deadline for the new regulations extended.

"We are very concerned at the impact this will have on travellers," said Rick Webster of the Travel Industry Association of America. "We know that the State Department is not prepared for the crush of what could be millions of visitors unable to get visas later this year or after. That translates into billions of lost revenue and many lost jobs."

The uncertainty will also inflict damage on businesses catering to more long-term visitors, such as the booming real estate market targeted at Britons heading for Florida.

"If it's more difficult to get here, then that begs the question why bother to come at all," said Carolyn Holmes, a British estate agent based in the state who has many British clients.

"It's strict enough as it is," said Errol Cameron, one of the managers of the Cricketers Arms in Orlando, home to Disneyworld, as he prepared for an onslaught of patrons for last night's Chelsea v Liverpool premiership game.

Richard Reid, the Brixton shoebomber, has a lot to answer for. When the US introduced fingerprinting and photographs at the border for travellers arriving with visas earlier this week, his gormless features returned to haunt the television screens.

Here was an example of someone who could slip into the country under the current visa-waiver system, the cable news networks and breakfast shows proclaimed.

Many veteran British residents of the US feel that the country is still overreacting to the events of September 2001.

"We are going through a lot of nonsense at the moment," said Peter Myers, owner of Myers of Keswick in Greenwich Village, purveyors of British delicacies such as Marmite and mulligatawny soup to New York expats.

"It's getting ridiculous. The way the Americans are reacting to the problems the planet is experiencing is bordering on the childish."

Tourist officials in Britain have already complained that tougher enforcement rules for holiday-makers will only hamper their efforts to promote the country in the wake of the September 11 attacks.

A spokesman for the Association of British Travel Agents (Abta) feared that the visa process would deter many would-be visitors: "It is quite an onerous process. A lot of people will have to travel to US embassies to get visas.

"Some people will be confused about what documents they need; is their passport the right one. We are working with the US Embassy on this, pointing out the logistical issues surrounding it."

Under the present rules British tourists are allowed to visit America for up to 90 days without a visa under the visa-waiver programme.

The number of Britons visiting America has almost doubled in the last decade, from 2.5 million in 1994 to 4.3 million in 2000.

"There's been a huge growth in air travel to the States," said an Abta spokesman. "The reintroduction of visas will not be practical and we would like to see a smooth changeover with biometric passports."

• BA flight BA223 from Heathrow to Dulles airport in Washington was delayed for nearly two hours yesterday for the fifth consecutive day because of safety concerns. An airline spokesman said it could not take off until American authorities had checked the names of its 206 passengers.

In another security incident, police in France were hunting an Afghan carrying a French passport suspected of planning to bomb an Air France flight from Paris to Los Angeles on Christmas Eve.